Вестник СПбГУ. История. 2019. Т. 64. Вып. 4 The Polish Question Through the Eyes of Russian Liberal Constitutionalists on the Eve and During the January Uprising L. Yu. Gusman For citation: Gusman L. Yu. The Polish Question Through the Eyes of Russian Liberal Constitutionalists on the Eve and During the January Uprising. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. History, 2019, vol. 64, iss. 4, рр. 1213–1225. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu02.2019.403 (In Russian) The article examines ideological positions of Russian liberal constitutionalists with regard to the Polish question in the 1860s. The author comes to the conclusion that mutual misunder- standing between Russian and Polish political writers stemmed from different perceptions of the Polish issue. While the Polish side supposed that it was necessary to restore “historic Po- land” within the boundaries of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth before its first partition in 1772, Russian liberals and radicals, to a certain extent, were ready to consider only the au- tonomy or independence of “ethnographic Poland” conceding the possibility of national ref- erendum about the state affiliation of the disputed territories. The events in Russia and Poland determined changes in the views on acute problems of the Russian-Polish co-existence. The author exemplifies this statement by the evolution in political positions on the Polish question of a famous Russian émigré and constitutionalist P. V. Dolgorukov. When he edited the journal “Budushchnost” (“Future”) in 1860–1861, he advocated autonomy of “ethnographic Poland”, at the end of 1862 — the middle of 1863 he joined the supporters of independent “ethno- graphic Poland” and referendum on the state affiliation of contemporary Lithuania, Belorussia and Right-Bank Ukraine, and after the suppression of the Polish rebellion in 1863–1864, the émigré turned to his previous position. By this time, it had become evident that despite the disagreement between “the White” and “the Red” in the Polish national movement, politi- cally active Poles were united in their understanding of one issue — “the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the sea to the sea”. However, this view was inadmissible for the Russian liberals and even revolutionaries, let alone conservatives. This maximalism delayed the return of Poland to the European political map not only as an independent state but also as a political autonomy modelled on Finland of the 19th century. Keywords: Poland, liberalism, P. V. Dolgorukov, maximalism, independence. Leonid Yu. Gusman — Doctor in History, St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instru mentation, 67, Bolshaya Morskaya ul., St. Petersburg, 190000, Russian Federation; Visiting Researcher, St. Petersburg State University, 7–9, Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation; [email protected] Леонид Юрьевич Гусман — д-р ист. наук, Государственный университет аэрокосмического при- боростроения, Российская Федерация, 190000, Санкт-Петербург, ул. Большая Морская, 67; пригла- шенный исследователь, Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет, Российская Федера- ция, 199034, Санкт-Петербург, Университетская наб., 7–9; [email protected] This research was supported by the grant No. 19-18-00073 “National Identity in the Imperial Politics of Memory: History of The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian State in Historiography and Social Thought of the 19th–20th centuries” of the Russian Science Foundation. Исследование выполнено в рамках гранта № 19-18-00073 «Национальная идентичность в им- перской политике памяти: история Великого княжества Литовского и Польско-Литовского государ- ства в историографии и общественной мысли XIX–XX вв.» Российского научного фонда. © Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет, 2019 https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu02.2019.403 1213 Польский вопрос глазами русских либералов-конституционалистов накануне и во время январского восстания Л. Ю. Гусман Для цитирования: Gusman L. Yu. The Polish Question Through the Eyes of Russian Liberal Con- stitutionalists on the Eve and During the January Uprising // Вестник Санкт-Петербургского университета. История. 2019. Т. 64. Вып. 4. С. 1213–1225. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu02.2019.403 Статья посвящена анализу идейных позиций русских либералов-конституционали- стов по польскому вопросу в 1860-е гг. Автор приходит к выводу о том, что взаимное непонимание между российскими и польскими публицистами заключалось в различ- ном восприятии польской проблемы. Если польская сторона полагала, что необходимо восстановление «исторической Польши» в границах Речи Посполитой до первого ее раздела в 1772 г., то российские либералы и частично радикалы были готовы рассмо- треть только возможность автономии или независимости «этнографической Польши», допуская возможность общенародного референдума о государственной принадлеж- ности спорных территорий. В зависимости от событий в России и Польше менялись и взгляды на острые проблемы русско-польского сосуществования. В качестве примера автор обращает внимание на эволюцию политический позиций по польскому вопросу известного эмигранта-конституционалиста П. В. Долгорукова. Когда он редактировал журнал «Будущность» в 1860–1861 гг., то высказывался за автономию «этнографиче- ской Польши», в конце 1862 г. — середине 1863 г. Долгоруков присоединился к сторон- никам независимости «этнографической Польши» и референдума о государственной принадлежности современных Литвы, Белоруссии и Правобережной Украины, после же подавления Польского восстания 1863–1864 гг. эмигрант вернулся к своим убеж- дениям первого периода. К тому времени стало понятно, что при всех разногласиях между «белыми» и «красными» в польском национальном движении существует во- прос, по которому среди политически активных поляков существовало неоспоримое единомыслие: «Речь Посполитая от моря и до моря». Но эта позиция была абсолютно неприемлема для русских либералов и даже революционеров, не говоря уже о консер- ваторах. Такой максимализм надолго отсрочил возвращение Польши на политические карты Европы не только как независимого государства, но и как политической автоно- мии по образцу Финляндии XIX в. Ключевые слова: Польша, либерализм, Долгоруков, максимализм, независимость. The Polish question was an acute issue for the Russian social thought in the 19th century. The problem of Poland’s existence within Russia took different forms at differ- ent stages. Thus, while partitions of the end of the 18th century practically didn’t include the territory of ethnographic Poland into the Russian Empire, in 1815, Russia, accord- ing to K. F. Golovin, “had the misfortune or imprudence of annexing not only marginal provinces of the former Poland, but its core”1 — the Kingdom of Poland, which after the suppression of the Polish rebellion in 1830–1831 and the abolition of the constitution of 1815 became the constant source of tension for Russia. The beginning of the 1860s — “The Great reforms” accompanied by the “crisis of the elites” and heightened political tension; a surge of constitutional movement in the Empire and the establishment of representative government in western and central Europe; the 1 Golovin K. F. Moi vospominaniia. Vol. 1. St. Petersburg, 1908. P. 100. 1214 Вестник СПбГУ. История. 2019. Т. 64. Вып. 4 victory of Italian national movement perceived as a model for emulation by other peoples deprived of independence — actualized the Polish question. The main problem lay in the fact that while the majority of the Russian society was ready to consider the separation of “ethnographic” Poland within the boundaries of 1815, all numerous groups of Polish emi- grants without exception consented only to the independence of “historic” Poland within the boundaries of 1772. Therefore, the issue of status of Western Krai and Lithuania came to the fore. An illustrative example of unsuccessful attempts at reaching a compromise in the Polish question, mutually acceptable by all sides of the conflict, was the position of the most moderate of oppositional proclamations of the beginning of the 1860s (1861) “Ve- likoruss” (The Great Russian) and the views of the most radical among Russian liberals — an émigré P. V. Dolgorukov2. The compilers of “Velikoruss” considered it necessary to immediately grant indepen- dence to Poland and to withdraw Russian troops from there. The authors of the proclama- tion couldn’t reconcile liberal changes in Russia with the occupation of Poland3. The authors held out the hope shared by many radical journalists, predominantly emigrants, at the beginning of the 1860s that aristocratic tendencies in the Polish national movement would fade: “Polish patriots decided to give away lands to peasants, despite the attempts of our government to fuel hostility between Polish estates, peasants know about it and are inspired by patriotism, and therefore, it is impossible for us now to defeat Polish uprising”4. This was far from reality: low activity of the most part of Polish rural popu- lation played a decisive role in relatively fast suppression of the rebellion of 1863–1864, however, the authors of “Velikoruss” could not foresee future disappointment, and were also unable to predict the emancipation reform in Poland and Western Krai in 1864 suc- cessfully implemented by the Russian authorities in order to ensure support of Polish and Lithuanian peasants5. The demand for Polish independence was made categorically and was not new to socialist and liberal movements in the Russian social thought in the 1850–1860s6. With regard to this,